Shell Nigeria Builds First African Kinetic Football Pitch

Fri, Dec 11, 2015
By publisher
4 MIN READ

BREAKING NEWS, Oil & Gas

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| By Anayo Ezugwu | Dec 7, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT |

SHELL has unveiled solar powered football pitch at the Federal College of Education, Technical, Akoka, Lagos, on Thursday, December 10. The football pitch was built to inspire entrepreneurs and bright energy ideas that will open up access to energy in Africa. The football pitch was refurbished by using more than 90 underground tiles that capture kinetic energy created by the movement of the players.

The kinetic energy is then stored and combined with power generated by solar panels to operate the new floodlights. This bright energy idea allows the students to play at night and provides a safer and more secure space at the heart of the community.

Osaige Okunbor, country chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria and managing director, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd, SPDC, said as part of the company’s #makethefuture programme, the idea behind the project was to inspire bright ideas from the youth for a brighter future.

“The idea is to see what innovation has brought to you and to inspire you to innovate and come up with your own idea. We are bringing to bear the key things we believe in at Shell. For us it is about, youth, access to energy, and about innovations. Access to energy is one of the major challenges in our society today. This initiative is designed to be a platform to inspire youth to come up with ideas that will make a difference in our country.”

Speaking on the event which also featured live performance by Akon, global music star, Laurence Kemball-Cook, founder and CEO, Pavegen Systems, the brain behind the innovation, commended Shell for believing in the idea and for making the project a reality.

“A similar pitch was built over a year ago in Rio de Janeiro. The pitch has been built with kinetic tiles. The tiles below the pitch capture kinetic energy created by the movement of the players. This energy is then stored and combined with the power generated by solar panel next to the pitch, this is then converted into renewable electricity for the new floodlights, giving the students a guaranteed solution for playing on the football pitch at night as well as safer and securer community space.”

He added that in collaboration with Shell, they would be providing free maintenance for the next five years and that the pitch will have a life span of more than 20 years.

Akon joined Shell to officially open the pitch and continue his commitment to teaching young Africans the importance of harnessing the power of Africa’s renewable energy. The singer is spearheading, through Akon Lighting Africa, a large scale effort to develop solar-powered solutions that will provide African communities with access to clean and affordable sources of electricity.

He said, “New, reliable and smarter energy solutions play a major role in driving human progress in Africa. Projects like this innovative football pitch draw attention to the major opportunity that Nigeria as well as the whole of Africa have if we look to better harness new technologies and the continent’s abundant renewable energy resources. That is why Hardiwork and I will feature this pitch in our upcoming video for “Tell Me We’re OK” because I want young people, whether they are in Lagos, Los Angeles or London to think about how they too can help us make the future.”

On his part, Siji Olusanya, Provost, Federal College of Education Techinical, commended Shell for identifying with the institution and promised to make the best use of the facility. “We have over 10,000 students, and have been producing teachers for over 20 years. We are proud of Shell for coming to our recue through this innovation. We are encouraging other organizations to take a leaf from them. We promise to maintain it, and we hope to inspire innovations for many generations.”

Shell LiveWIRE is an international programme that has been a catalyst for young entrepreneurs to develop enterprising ideas into viable and sustainable businesses for more than 30 years. The LiveWIRE programme was launched in Nigeria in 2003, and since then it has trained more than 6,000 youths in enterprise development and management, of whom more than 3,000 have been provided with business start-up assistance.

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